Machine for holding sheet-rubber for the action of pin-setting mechanisms



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J. A. HORTON. MACHINE FOR HOLDING SHEET RUBBER FOR THE AGTION OF PINSETTING MECHANISM.

Patented July 19, 1881.

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J. A. HORTON. MACHINE FOR HOLDING SHEET RUBBER-FOR THE ACTION OF PINSETTING MECHANISM. N0. 24L606. Patented July 19,1881.

UNITED STATES PATENT Enron.

JAMES A. HORTON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR HOLDING SHEET-RUBBER FOR THE ACTION OF PIN-SETTINGMECHANISMS.

SPECIFICATION'fOrming part of' Letters Patent No. 244,606, dated July19, 1881.

Application filed March 30, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom-it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES A. HORTON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements inMachines for Holding Sheet-Rubber or other Material for the Action ofPin-Settin g Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism forholding a strip of sheet-rubberor other material while a row or series of metallic pins is beingsimultaneously inserted into it to form the brush material of metallichairbrushes, and for feeding said strip after each row is inserted toplace it in position to receive the next row.

The invention has for its object, first, to enable the strip of rubberor other material employed to be automatically grasped at its oppositeedges and stretched at the point where the pins are inserted, so that itwill be held in a sufficiently firm condition to enable the series ofpins to perforate it when forced against it without displacing the saidstrip to any material extent.

The invention also has for its object to enable the strip to beautomatically fed, so that the pins will be inserted in groups, eachgroup having the desired number of pins to form a single brush andseparated from the adjacent groups, so that the strip can be readily cutto detach the sections of material containing the groups of pins.

To these ends my invention consists in the improvements which I will nowproceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification,Figure 1 represents an elevation of one end of the mechanism embodyingmy invention. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation of the same. Fig. 3represents an elevation of the opposite end. Fig. 4 represents a sectionon the line 00 00, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 represents a section on the line g y,Fig. 1. Fig. 5 represents a section on line y 3 Fig. 4. Figs. 6, 7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 represent views of detached details ofthegrasping mechof the strip of material, showing the grouping.

of the pins therein.

The same letters refer to the same parts in all the figures.

In carrying out my invention I provide two chains, a a, and support thesame on two pairs of drums or pulleys, I) b and o c, said pulleys beingsupported respectively on parallel shafts d c journaled in bearings in asupporting-frame, f. The shafts d c are adjustable, so that they may beseparated or drawn closer together, as may be desired, for the purposeof regulating the tension of the chains to a. Each of the chains a a iscomposed of a series of links, g. (Seen in detail in Figs. 13 and 14:.)Each link is composed of a rectangular frame having projecting ears 9 g,which are pivoted to similar ears on the adjacent link, a lever, h,pivoted to lugs it on the outer sideof the link, and provided with ajaw, j, and a jaw, j, formed on one of the side bars of the link. Thelever h is adapted to swingiuwardly through the openings of the link, toseparate the jaw j from the jawj, as seen in Figs. 5 and 7, the drumsb band c a being provided with peripheral grooves k to permit such movementof the levers- The jaws j j are arranged on the inner edge of eachchain, and said jaws are adapted to grasp the opposite edges of a stripof sheet-rubber or other suitable material interposed between thechains, the object of the chains a a being to present in succession allparts of a strip of suitable material, 8, of indefinite length, tosuitable devices for inserting a transverse row of pins simultaneouslyinto said strip. Iprovide means whereby the strip is guided between thechains or a, means whereby the jaws are opened to permit the edges ofthe stripto be inserted between them, and means for closingthe jawsalong short portions of the chains upon the edges of the strip, and forslightly increasing the space"between the portions of the chains alongwhich the strip is grasped, and thereby laterally stretching the graspedportion of the strip. I also provide means for moving the chainsintermittently, giving the same several steps or movements of equallength in succession to enable a series or group of rows of pins to beinserted at uniform distances apart, and then a longer step or movementto separate such group from the succeeding group.

All of. the aforesaid means I will now specifically describe in theorder above 'given, first stating that the pin-insertin g mechanism (notshown in the drawings) is located over ahorizontal shelf or table, 1,placed opposite the portions of the chains which extend between thedrums b b and c c, and may be of any suitable kind adapted to insert atransverse row of pins at a single operation into the strip of materialemployed between said portions of the chains, the means for closing thejaws upon the strip and for stretching the latter being located behindsaid portions of the chains, so that the strip is held and stretched atthe pointwhere the pins are inserted.

The means for guiding the strip 8 between the chains consist of a pairof curved sheetmetal plates, m m, mainly located under and concentricwith the lower supporting-drums, b b, one end of plate diverging fromsaid drums, and being provided with cars a n, which serve as lateralstops for the edges of the strip 8. The guides on are supported bystandards or strips m m affixed to a cross-bar on the frame f. The meansfor opening the jaws consist of two wheels, 0, having teeth or sprbcketsadapted to bear against the levers h of each chain and force said leversinto the grooves 70 of the drums b 1), thereby openingthe jaws, as shownin Fig. 5, said wheels 0 0 being arranged to open the jaws when theycoincide with notches m m formed in the outer edges of the guides m, sothat after the jaws pass said notches the edges of the guides areinterposed between the jaws and are caused to prevent the movable jawsfrom closing upon the rubber until they pass beyond the guides, theguides being of the same width as thestrip s and interposed between thestrip and the jaws j. The guides terminate at or near the horizontalplane of the axis of the drums b b, as shown in Fig. 11, and above theguides the levers h are free to move outwardly to close their jaws uponthe strip. This outward motion of the levers is effected by means of twovertical grooved guides, 19 p, (seen in Figs. 9, 10, and 12,) whichextend from points immediately above the guide m to about the horizontalplane of the axis of the drums c c, the said drums and guides beingadjustable on the 1 shaft, to adapt the machine to receive strips ofmaterial of any width. The lower ends of the guides 10 p are curved orinclined outwardly in opposite directions, as seen at p p, and thegrooves 12 p extend from these curved portions to the upper ends of theguides, and their The levers h are moved outwardly by the contact of thepins q with the curved ends of the guides 0, and their jaws j are thuspressed against the edges of the strip 8, which are now interposedbetween and grasped by the jaws jj. At the same time the pins q enterthe grooves p and bear against the diverging inner sides of saidgrooves. The distance between the chains is gradually increased by thesaid diverging sides as the chains move upwardly, so that the graspedrubber is stretched laterally and held in a stretched condition so longas the pins q are in the grooves 19 As before stated, the pins areinserted in transverse rows into the stretched and grasped portion ofthe strip 8. Each row is inserted simultaneously by pressing the pointsof the pins against the strip, the stretched condition of which enablesit to stand firmly while the pins are perforating it. The strip has asupport behind it, as well as being held at its edges. When the leversit pass above the guides 19 they pass into the grooves k in the drums cc, said groove acting as continuations of the grooves p in holding thelevers h, and are released during their downward movement when theyleave the back sides of the drums c 0, thereby releasing the edges ofthestrip s from the jaws jj, the strip, with its pins, being suitablyconducted away from the machine.

The means for feeding the strip 8 intermit tently, as above described,are as follows: On the end of the shaft 0, and rigidly attached thereto,is a wheel or collar, 1", (seen in Figs. 18 and 19,) having a series ofinclined faces, r, resembling ratchet-teeth. t represents a diskjournaled loosely on the shaft, and having a flange, t. projecting overthe inclined faces of the collar 1', wedge-shaped spaces being formedbetween the faces r and the inner surface of the flange t, as shown inFig. 18. In these wedge-shaped spaces are placed loose balls or rolls a,which, when the disk t is rotated in the direction indicated by thearrowin Fig. 18, are crowded into the narrow ends of said spaces, andcause the collar 1' to rotate with the disk; but when the disk t isrotated in the opposite direction said balls fall back into the wideends of the spaces, and do not cause the collar r to rotate. therefore,that by giving the disk t a series of short rotations in the directionindicated by the arrow in Fig. 18 the shaft 0 and drums 00 will becorrespondingly rotated, said drums being provided with teeth orsprockets '0, (shown most clearly in Fig. 5%) which enter the openingsin the links g, as shown in Figs.. 4 and 6, and cause the chains (1. ato move with the drums c 0. The series of rotations are imparted to thedisk It by means of a verticallyreciprocating rod, to, which'is raisedintermittently by the action of a cam, w, rotated by any suitable power,preferably by a treadle controlled by the operator, the cam alternatelyraising the rod and allowing it to descend. The rod to is provided atits upper end with an offset or lug, A, which projects under a lug, B,on the periphery of the disk t, so that when said rod is raised itpartially rotates said disk. The downward motion of the rod is arrestedIt will be seen,

by a disk, 0, which is journaled to the frame a f, and is locatedunderan adjustable screw, D,

in an arm, E, on the rod to. The disk G is provided with a ratchet, F,which is engaged by a pawl, G, pivoted to the arm E, said pawl partiallyrotating the ratchet F and disk at every upward movement of the rod w.The disk 0 has an opening, H, adapted to receive the screw D when thedisk is rotated, so that said opening coincides with the end of saidscrew, the screw entering the opening H when such coincidence takesplace, and being arrested by the periphery of a cam, 1, within the disk,as shown in Fig. 16, so that the screw D and rod to have a longerdescent than when the screw is arrested by the periphery of the disk,and consequently have a longer upward movement when next raised, therebygiving the disk t and drums c c a longer rotation than at other times.The chains, a. a are therefore given a succession of movements ofuniform length and then a single longer movement. A row of pins isinserted in the strip after each movement thereof, so that a series orgroup of rows will be inserted at uniform distances apart, and then awider space will occur, separating the group from the succeeding group,as shown in Fig. 20, which represents a portion of the strip with thepins inserted. Each group of pins, with the portion of the strip inwhich they are inserted, constitutes the material for a single brush,and can be easily severed from the strip. The cam I is adj ustable bymeans ofcurved slots and screws passing through the same, as shown inFig. 15, so that the descent of the scrcwD through the opening H can bevaried to regulate the space between the groups of pins.

It. will be observed that a strip of material of any desired length canbe passed through the machine, that a portion of the material isgrasped, stretched, and moved intermittently at a given point in themachine, and released after passing such point; and that all portions ofthe strip are successively grasped and stretched until the end isreached.

As previously mentioned, I have shown no mechanism for inserting thepins into the stretched portion of the rubber. The pins may be arrangedin a row, by hand or otherwise, on a block, 1, on the table I, withtheir points toward the strip, and forced forward simultaneously intothe strip by a bar bearing upon the heads of all the pins, the bar beingheld and pressed forward by the operator to cause the pins to perforatethe stretched strip. The stretched condition of the material when thepins are inserted enables the pins to perforate without displacing it,so that when the material is released it will not be left in a wavy oruneven condition, as it would if it were simply held at its edges andnot stretched when the pins are inserted.

I do not limit myself to the precise mechanical construction of theelements herein shown and described. It is obvious that each chainembodies a pair of elongated flexible graspingsurfaces composedrespectively of the outer faces of the jaws j and the inner faces of thejaws j, said surfaces being equivalent to two continuous belts pressedtogether to clamp the edge of a strip interposed between them. Hence Iregard any mechanism embodying grasping-surfaces having thesecharacteristics and adapted to grasp and stretch the edges of the stripat a given point in the machine, and release the strip after said pointis passed, as coming within the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my inventiion, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, 1s-

1. In a machine for grasping, stretching, and intermittently movingsuccessive parts of a strip of flexible material, the combination of twopairs of flexible grasping-surfaces mounted as belts uponsupporting-drums andadapted to move intermittently in unison, means forcausing said surfaces ata given pointin the machine to grasp theopposite edges of the strip,

and means for stretching the grasped portion of the fabric, the graspingsurfaces being adapted to release the edges of the strip after passingthe said given point, substantially a described.

2. In amachine for grasping, stretching, and intermittently movingsuccessive parts of a strip of material, the combination of thefollowing elements, to wit: first, two chains composed of pivoted links,each having a movable and a fixed jaw; secondly, drums supporting saidchains and adapted to be intermittently rotated and to permit themovable jaws to be opened and closed; thirdly, a guide to introducethestrip of material between the chains; fourthly, means for opening themovable jaws of the chains before the insertion of the strip; and,fifthly, means for closing the jaws upon the edges of the strip at agiven point in the machine, and for stretching the strip along thegrasped portion, said jaws being adapted to release the strip afterpassing said given point, substantially as set forth.

3. In combination with the strip holding and stretching mechanism,automatic feed mechanism adapted to give the strip a succession ofmovements of equal length and then a single movement of greater length,as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, this 26th day of March, A.

JAMES A. HORTON. Witnesses:

H. G. WADLIN, G. F. BROWN.

too

